Daily Yellowstone journal., 1887-07-08
GRAvELOTTE'S GRAVES.
THE SPOT WHERE $4,000 MEN
WERE SLAIN FOR GLORY.


Brief Description OF the Rattle Field-A
German Commanders Biunder-The
Grinding Of the Murderous Mitraii-
leuses-The Land Uttered with Graves.
The village Of Gravelotte is formed by
two lanes OF houses at right angles. The
one on the main route leads along a
plateau for some hundreds Of yards, then
Suddenly descends into a ravine which
crosses 1t, also at right angles, the road
then ascending pretty steeply for a quarter
Of q mile to the ever famous farm house
az st. Hubert. This road and the ravine
on either side Of IL witnessed the bloodiest
hours of the last war, and il is not easy TO
write with composure of them immedi-
ately after one has passed. By the move
ments OF the two forces, as every one who
followed the earlier details of the struggle
knows, the Germans were In possession Of
the yillage-that is, were on the French
side Of the battle field-and the five divi-
sions Of the French forces, under five COM
manders, were on the German side, with
Bazaine and Metz In their rear. The
French artillery was along the heights op-
posite Gravelotte, and at st. Hubert stood
the mitrailleuses, only too successful here,
whatever they may have been at other
times.
SOMEBODY BLUNDERED.
Along the chaussee which winds from
the village Of Gravelotte across the ravine,
and up to the farm house of st. Hubert
on the height opposite, Won Zastrow sent
German artillery, infantry and at last
Uhlans straight into the teeth Of the
French on the hill, secure In their thres
tiers of rifle pits and behind rows Of artil.
kry and NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. at "the
lightning Of the lips Of guns" The order
to advance thus wal q blunder, or at best
. misunderstanding, and the brave Ger.
mans who obeyed il fell rank by rank till
the road and the whole ravine were Gov.
cred with their bodies; then as the rush
became more desperate the men went
down literally by sections. My guide over
the field instinctively lowered his voice as
he spoke of the grinding of the mitrail.
leuses and the moving down Of each line
of men us it appeared struggling up from
below. Even next morning Archibald
Forbes found not only, Of course, the
whole place deep with dead, but German
blood positively in puddles along this
road. The Uhlans were sent TO cover the
retreat when the failure of the attack be.
came evident, but Peter Keenan's charge
at Chancellorsville was not a more utterly
hopeless effort. The regular tactics OF
the Swiss pikemen Of the Sixteenth cen.
fury, when il was clearly understood tina,
<kA thpaa ~ fn.r frcpt ro-Ia - aka .la
lAnx would fall at the first onset with the
'LAndsknechts," and the others march
over their bodies, afford the closest paral.
lei TO the advance Of Zastrow's men across
this ravine.
An idea Of the carnage OF the whole
battle Of Aug. Is may be gathered from
the statement that there were 1l2, 00C
French and oil 900 Germans ~dncludine
reserves engaged in it, and that over L..
600 French and 10000 Germans fell there.
Lord wolseley has put on record the state
ment that the proportion OF French to ares
was ten and q half men per yard. And
all the time this was going on Bazaine lay
miles in the rear with the French imperial
guard, holding il in readiness to re-enforcs
his left wing, which was in an absolutely
lAHitSunolI HVtltious Willie HE Ilkut Wu<
slowly and surely being driven in and
round. lie cochon" said my guide. St.
Private, where the conditions were almost
the same, il known as ''the tomb Of the
guard" the Prussian guard alone having
lost that afternoon no fewer than 3l5 off.
Gers and 7,785 men. When at last, and al
nightfall, the French evacuated ST. HUI.
bert, out Of 100 men who had defended
that particular spot 800 remained. My
guide was a Of these; hence his emo
ton.
Uttered WITH GRAVES.
All this, however, has TO be recon
structed from memory and Imagination
and IL is not until one begins to ascend
the road that leads on from st. Hubert
that the actual things before ones eyes
become impressive and indeed almost
awful. On each side Of the road q rich
and highly cultivated country rolls away
for several miles to the horizon. Dozens
of pillow teams are dotted over IL, and the
great curved burrows of which / have
already spoken give 1t the appearance of q
huge, dark brown strand from which the
ocean has gradually receded. But
for the moment one notices neither
plowmen nor burrows, nor fertile
fields, but only graves. The whole
country side, as far as you cen see. IL
Uttered with them. Little graves, with
small white wooden crosses on them, each
cross bearing its wreath, where some
handfuls Of comrades lie; little graves
with a big and generally lanky monu.
ment where some high officer fell, monu.
ments 10 which no single grave can bs
found TO correspond, where regiments
graves with a tumble Of crosses and
wreaths upon them, where q hundred or q
couple Of hundred, or even five hundred
rank and file lie closer together ever thar
they stood in those dreadful August days.
In MANY Of the graves French and Ger.
man soldiers lay side by side, the inscrip.
ton doing homage to the courage Of both
alike. / did not notice any OF these In
French, but probably this was because
the place was German ground. A few
yards from us. well into a plowed field. Is a
square mound Of earth, with its cross,
which covers almost all Of what was once
n dashing German regiment. The pillow.
man on reaching u has guided his share
close round the edge, then ON reaching II
a second time, round that again, and Sc
on, until now, when he is twenty burrows
away, the grave lies IN the middle Of con.
centric circles Of burrows, which lie about
Il like the rings ronnd O stone dropped
into a pool. In q few months the grave
will be a little island in the middle Of {
waving sea Of oats. Rich crops grow II
these burrows Of the sword.-Cor. Pal
Mall Gazette.
From His Beloved.
He stood ut the letter box OF the club
In his hand he held a letter addressed u
him, In a plain envelope. There was
s~,..hIu1 lauk tr III. - - - .--A<